Word of the Day 3/31/2010

Vulgar

Having a common and offensively mean character; coarsely commonplace; lacking in refinement or good taste; uncultured, ill-bred.

Employed in common or ordinary reckoning of time, distance, etc.; esp., in later use, vulgar era, the ordinary Christian era.

Of language or speech: Commonly or customarily used by the people of a country; ordinary, vernacular. In common use c 1525-1650; now arch.

Etymology

Latin vulgr-is, feminine vulg-us the common people. Later coming to mean the language of the commoners, “lower language”. Then via pejoration and broadening, we are left with the meaning we have today.

Modern Usage

Follows definitions above.

All definitions and etymology information was obtained using the Online Oxford English Dictionary.